Police pledge to protect cultural heritage

Herald Reporter 

POLICE are committed to preserving the country’s cultural heritage and historic sites for the benefit of future generations, a senior official has said. 

In an interview on the sidelines of a Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Women’s Network Culture Day commemoration in Harare yesterday, the department’s head of the Flora and Fauna Unit, Detective Chief Inspector Portia Chinho, stressed the need to treasure and protect the national heritage and to preserve culture.

“We are calling on members of the public and community leaders to work with the police to ensure that our cultural heritage is preserved.

“Let us report all cases that pose a threat to cultural heritage property. As CID’s Flora and Fauna Unit, we are carrying out awareness campaigns to educate the public about our cultural heritage sites .

“We are responsible for overseeing all flora and fauna issues and we are supporting the country’s Vision 2030,” she said.

There were challenges around educating the public on the importance of preserving cultural heritage and police were working with traditional leaders to bring more awareness.

“We are engaging in robust awareness campaigns to conscientise the public on the importance of culture. We are also engaging the local leaders and other stakeholders to ensure that the issue of culture is brought back such that all the centres that have cultural significance are taken care of by preserving them,” he said.

Superintendent Memory Kanhiriri, chairperson of CID Women’s Network, said there were some challenges in policing different cultural practices and dimensions in the country . 

“We have some cultures that affect us in policing. For example, we have a culture where men are allowed to walk with weapons, which we as police, regard as dangerous weapons.

“We need to depend on each other to reach a compromise on culture and the law so that as law enforcers, we are able to implement principles of the law, while at the same time upholding the diverse cultural practices,” she said.